Generals Propose Requiring Women to Register For Draft

By: Jim Owen | February 4, 2016

Women should join young men in registering for a possible military draft, two U.S. generals said Tuesday.

Thomson/Reuters noted that the proposal comes as the Pentagon begins to assign female service members to combat duty. This week, Marine Corps Gen. Robert Neller told the Senate Armed Services Committee: “I think that all eligible and qualified men and women should register for the draft.”

Gen. Mark Milley, the Army’s chief of staff, agreed with Neller’s statement. Two others who appeared before the committee, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Acting Army Secretary Patrick Murphy, called for more discussion of the issue before the government requires women to sign up with the Selective Service.

While the military relies exclusively on volunteers, men are mandated to register because Congress might institute a draft in the future, Thomson/Reuters explained. The military leaders told senators that putting women into combat roles will take as long as three years to accomplish.

Not all of the lawmakers were receptive to the plan, which Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced in December. Committee Chairman John McCain of Arizona cited the “consequential impact” of placing women on the front lines. “I am concerned that the department has gone about things backwards,” he said.

Mabus predicted that integrating women into combat positions “would endanger not only the safety of Marines, but also the safety of our nation.”